High school coach convicted of abusing former player

Tyler Barrick/For the Star-LedgerPamela Balogh at her arraignment in 2006.

A jury in Somerville has cleared the former Immaculata High School girls basketball coach of the most serious offense in her sexual assault trial, but Pamela Balogh was convicted of second-degree sexual assault and several other charges stemming from her relationship with a player.

Balogh faces up to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of second-degree sexual assault, third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child, and fourth-degree criminal sexual contact. She was found not guilty of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, a charge that carried a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.

The jury of three women and nine men returned the verdict around noon in state Superior Court.

The coach's affair with the student lasted more than nine months - from December 2004, when the girl was 15, past her 16th birthday and until Balogh resigned from Immaculata, a Roman Catholic parochial high school in the borough, in 2005.

Prosecutors say the teenager lied to her friends, family and school officials for two years, insisting nothing happened between her and the coach, who amassed a record of 240 wins and 63 loses during her 12-year tenure.